ACTS 29 TODAY

COMING TO THE KNOWLEDGE OF THE TRUTH

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Jesus said if you want (its your decision)to B my disciple( ONE WHO FOLLOWED AFTER JESUS) you must:

1) DENY YOUR……SELF: ……………….DEAL WITH THAT INSISTENT, SELF

PLEASING, AND SELF ASSERTING EGO IN EACH ONE OF US. THE THING THAT

SAYS I THINK, I WANT, I FEEL, I AM IMPORTANT, PAY ATTENTION TO ME, I

MATTER. AND YOU HAVE TO SAY. NO YOU (SELF) DON’T MATTER…..YOUR NOT

IMPORTANT….ITS GOD THAT’S IMPORTANT. I DENY YOU, I WILL NOT LISTEN

TO YOU, I WONT SUCCUMB TO YOU, I WILL NOT BOW TO YOUR (SELF )

DEMANDS, YOU (SELF) DON’T DICTATE TO ME, AND YOU DON’T CONTROL MY

LIFE, YOU SELFISH CREATURE.

2) TAKE UP THE CROSS: THIS IS THE PLACE WHERE YOU (SELF) DIE

AND JESUS WILL NOT IMPOSE IT ON YOU. ITS THE PLACE WHERE

THE EGO COMES TO AN END, YOU DON’T BECOME A NON PERSON

BUT A NEW PERSON. AGAIN THIS IS YOUR DECISION, ARE YOU

WILLING TO FOLLOW JESUS. ITS THE PLACE WHERE YOUR WILL

AND GODS WILL CROSS, AND EVERYONE OF USE COMES TO THAT

PLACE, WHERE WE MAKE A DECISION…..GODS WILL…OR MY

WILL.THERE’S NO OTHER WAY, NO SECOND ALTERNATIVE. JESUS

PRAYED 3 TIMES IN THE GARDEN, IF THERE B ANY OTHER WAY TO

HAVE THIS CUP (CROSS) REMOVED, BUT IF NOT …THEN…NOT MY

WILL….BUT THINE BE DONE. NOW GOD WILL ARRANGE THE CROSS

FOR YOU, HE HAS A SPECIAL CROSS FOR EACH ONE OF US, A

SPECIAL AREA OF OUR LIVES WHERE WE HAVE TO SAY….NOT MY

WILL….BUT YOURS BE DONE, THEN WE CAN FOLLOW HIM.

Luke 14:25-27Amplified Bible (AMP)

Discipleship Tested

²⁵ Now large crowds were going along with Jesus; and He turned and said to them,

²⁶ “If anyone comes to Me, and does not ^[a]hate his own father and mother and wife

and children and brothers and sisters, yes, and even his own life [in the sense of

indifference to or relative disregard for them in comparison with his attitude toward

God]—he cannot be My disciple. ²⁷ Whoever does not carry his own cross

[expressing a willingness to endure whatever may come] and follow after Me

[believing in Me, conforming to My example in living and, if need be, suffering or

perhaps dying because of faith in Me] cannot be My disciple.

IT COST NOTHING TO GO WITH JESUS, IN FACT IT WAS EXCITING TO GO WITH HIM AND SEE WHAT WOULD HAPPEN, OR GET SOME FREE FOOD, BUT WHEN IT CAME TO BECOMING A DISCIPLE, THE GREAT MULTITUDES DISAPPEARED.

WE CAN NOT LET ANYTHING COME BETWEEN OUR LOVE AND DEVOTION TO JESUS FIRST, EVEN OUR OWN FAMILY. Jesus said they who do the will of God was his family.

WE WERE FLYING FROM LAS VEGAS TO COSTA RICA TO DO SOME MINISTRY THERE AND IT WAS THE NIGHT BEFORE OUR FLIGHT. WE WERE DOING SOME LAST MINUTE SHOPPING AND IT WAS ABOUT 9PM WHEN I GOT A PHONE CALL THAT MY MOTHER WAS DYING FROM A STROKE AT AN ELDERLY CARE HOME IN WASHINGTON STATE.

SOME OF MY CHILDREN WERE THERE AND OTHERS AND THEY WERE BEGGING ME TO GET HER TO THE HOSPITAL, BUT SHE HAD ALREADY MADE THE DECISION EARLIER TO NOT HAVE ANY EMERGENCY CARE IN THE EVENT OF A LIFE THREATENING ISSUE.

SO THERE WAS NOTHING I COULD DO ABOUT THAT, IT WAS ASSUMED THAT AFTER SHE PASSED AWAY LATER THAT NIGHT THAT I WOULD CANCEL OUR TRIP AND GO BACK TO WASHINGTON.

ALL OF THE ARRANGEMENTS WERE ALREADY TAKEN CARE OF FOR WHEN SHE WOULD MOVE TO HEAVEN AND SO THERE WOULD HAVE BEEN NOTHING I COULD HAVE DONE THERE AND SHE WOULD HAVE WANTED ME TO GO ON WITH WHAT GOD HAD PLANNED FOR ME IN COSTA RICA, SO WE WENT ON WITH THE TRIP.

AM I GOING TO DO WHAT MY FAMILY WANTS….OR WHAT JESUS WANTS, AND IT SEEMS MANY CAN NOT MAKE THAT DECISION AND THEY STAY ON THE SIDE OF FAMILY.

SO WE ARE BEGINNING TO SEE THAT BEING A TRUE DISCIPLE OF JESUS IS WAY MORE THAN A 12 STEP PROGRAM OR SOME DISCIPLESHIP CLASS. INTERESTINGLY I DID A SEARCH ON GOOGLE ABOUT THE 3 MOST IMPORTANT THINGS TO BEING A DISCIPLE OF JESUS…..AND NOT ONE OF THE FIRST PAGE RESULTS HAD THE REQUIREMENTS THAT JESUS GAVE TO BECOME HIS DISCIPLE.

IT SEEMS IF WE PREACH THE SAME REQUIREMENTS OF BEING A DISCIPLE THAT JESUS GAVE, THE RESULTS ARE THE SAME, THE GREAT CROWD’S OF PEOPLE THAT WANT TO GO ALONG WITH JESUS, BE SPECTATORS OF JESUS, AND GET SOME FREE FOOD, WILL BE THE SAME…..WHEN IT COMES TO DENYING YOUR SELF, TAKING UP THE CROSS, AND FOLLOWING JESUS………..

THEY WILL ALL BE GONE.

ONE TIME WHEN JESUS TALKED ABOUT EATING HIS FLESH AND DRINKING HIS BLOOD THE GREAT CROWDS ALL LEFT AND THEN HE SAID TO HIS DISCIPLES WILL YOU ALSO LEAVE ME, AND THEY SAID:

TO WHOM WOULD WE GO…ONLY YOU HAVE THE WORDS OF ETERNAL LIFE.

I DO NOT CONSIDER MYSELF A TRUE DISCIPLE OF JESUS …..YET, BUT BY HIS GRACE (GODS ABILITY TO DO IN AND THRU ME WHAT I CAN NOT TO IN AND OF MYSELF) I AM GETTING CLOSER EVERYDAY TO DENYING MYSELF, AND TAKING UP THE CROSS AND WITH OUT THESE 2 THINGS WE WILL NEVER BE DISCIPLES OF JESUS……………………… WE MAY B SPECTATORS BUT NOT DISCIPLES.

NEXT TIME I WILL SHARE SOMETHING VERY IMPORTANT ABOUT SELF AND HOW IT WILL EFFECT OUR FUTURES IN GODS ARMY IN THESE LAST DAYS.

AND REMEMBER: EVE WAS NOT TEMPTED BY THE EVIL…..SHE WAS TEMPTED BY THE GOOD.

Gen 3:⁶     And when the woman saw that the tree… was good… for food, and that it was delightful… to look at, and a tree… to be desired… in order to…. make one wise and insightful,….. she took some of its fruit and ate it;

AMBASSADOR LARRY